NEW FOREST HEART Monthly Beat Report – April 2019 Hello and welcome to April’s Beat Report for the New Forest Heart area. I am PCSO 14495 Richard Williams, one of the Beat Officers for this area, and I am based at Lyndhurst Police Station with my colleagues PC 20127 Steven Norris and PC 2901 Jason Eastwood. Beat Surgeries Please come and meet us, in May 2019 we will be at – St Michael and All Angels Church in Lyndhurst on Sunday 12th May at 10.30am. Colbury Parish Church on Deer Leap Lane on Sunday 12th May at 11.30am. Bramshaw Village Shop on Monday 13th May at 8am. Lyndhurst Parish Council Shop on Monday 13th May at 10am. Bartley Post Office on Monday 13th May at 11am. The Trusty Servant in Minstead on Saturday 18th May at 4pm. The Tip, Leaf and Bean café in the New Forest Centre in Lyndhurst on Sunday 19th May at 10am. Lyndhurst Roman Catholic Church on Wellands Road on Sunday 19th May at 10.00am Lyndhurst Baptist Church in Lyndhurst on Sunday 19th May at midday Village News at Beaulieu on Saturday 25th May at 9am. Outside SPENCERS on Brookley Road at Brockenhurst on Saturday 25th May at 11am. Burglaries: No homes in the New Forest Heart area have been burgled in April but 16 outbuildings and businesses have been. These include a pub in Ashurst where coins were stolen and various machines were damaged and the Longdown Dairy Farm where again coins were also stolen from some of their machines. Sheds at the Colbury Church, the allotments in Ashurst and a farm and business in Cadnam and Ower were also targetted but nothing was stolen. Brockenhurst, Fritham, Netley Marsh, Minstead and Winsor are the other areas that have been affected this month. Theft From Motor Vehicle: April has seen 7 vehicles broken into, with only two of them parked in New Forest car parks, those being Hawk Hill and Fritham. The other vehicles targeted were parked in the hotel car park at Stoney Cross and on a road in Ashurst. Myself and the New Forest Police cadets have been touring the New Forest over the Easter holiday period making sure people know NOT to leave anything in their vehicles but again if you could pass the message on as well I’d be very grateful. 5 bicycles valued at almost £20,000 have been stolen from the Hollands Wood camp site just outside Brockenhurst. You might remember last year we had several bicycles stolen from the camp sites in the New Forest and at the time we asked you to make sure all of your bicycles were securely locked and alarmed if possible, however it now seems that if you are leaving them overnight then they need to be inside. The bicycles that were stolen from Hollands Wood were secured to the front of a camper van with 4 very large expensive bike locks. One of the locks secured all the frames to the van, the next lock was secured around all the wheels to the frame and there were 2 smaller locks which were put through the 2 pairs of back wheels securing them together. As an alarm, an empty bottle had been placed inside the frames so that if the bicycles were tampered with there would be a noise when the bottle dropped. Also someone was asleep inside the camper van just above the bicycles and someone else was asleep just behind them but no one heard a thing. Regular patrols of the campsites will be made through the holiday period and the camp site staff are also patrolling the areas overnight, but please do what you can to make your bicycles safe, which does probably mean keeping them inside when possible. In other incidents the number plates have been stolen from a car in Ashurst, the windows of a house in Ashurst were smashed as well as those of a car parked on the driveway, an air rifle has been used in the woods just by the entrance to New Park on the road between Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst, a ceramic sign has been stolen from a garden in Brockenhurst and a garden bench was taken from outside a house in Minstead. Also a car parked on the grounds of the hospital at Tatchbury Mount had one of its windows smashed. There has been an increase in the number of vehicles being reported to us for driving off road on the Forest floor or in some of the Forest car parks. Unfortunately the people reporting these vehicles haven’t been able to provide us with the registration numbers which is the main piece of evidence that we need. Please email me with the details of any vehicle you see behaving in this way and if you can include a photograph then that is also really helpful. Another thing to look out for in the Forest is people lighting fires on the Forest floor. This is extremely dangerous as well as being illegal because the forest floor gets burnt causing criminal damage. Last month I told you about two people who had been scammed by someone claiming to be from their bank. The victims were told that they were due to receive a new bank card and during the conversation the victim gave the caller their PIN code. Someone them went to the victims house and collected the card, swapping it for an envelope which felt like it had a new bank card inside it but of course it wasn’t. Well unfortunately we have heard from another victim of the exact same scam this month. The victim was visited at home in Lyndhurst and then had money stolen from his account. Can I remind you that in May and June I am looking to visit as many of the more vulnerable people in our community to talk to them about being scammed and about how best to stop it. So if you know someone who would benefit from a visit and a chat then please email me at [email protected] During April the temporarily depleted Speed Watch team in Lyndhurst surveyed Southampton Road (A35) in the village and monitored 310 vehicles and of those 112, so 36%, were travelling over the 30mph limit. 11 of those vehicles have received warning letters from the Police for recording speeds of 35mph or more, with one vehicle reaching 51mph. The Lyndhurst team has also spent time on Pikes Hill but as yet hasn’t caught anyone travelling above the 30mph limit. Also during April, the Speed Watch team in Minstead monitored 399 vehicles travelling along Mill Lane and 236 of them, so 59%, were exceeding the 30mph speed limit. Of those 236, 73 vehicles were travelling at 35mph or more with one vehicle recorded at an incredible 71 mph !!!! That driver has been spoken to by the Police. The Minstead team also surveyed the C17 (Stoney Cross Road) in April and monitored 1070 vehicles of which 524 (49%) were travelling above the 40mph limit. Of those 524, 134 were travelling above 46mph and have received warning letters from the Police. One vehicle was recorded at 68mph. The Copythorne Speed Watch team has been out in the Parish and monitored over 2,000 vehicles in April. Approximately 65% were travelling over the 30mph speed limit and 194 were recorded at 35mph or over and the owners have received warning letters from the Police. The highest recorded speed was 49mph. New 40mph sites have been selected in the Parish and you can expect to see the team at these new locations from May. Did you know that you can now follow us on Twitter, just search for NewForestCops. Please keep calling us if you see anything suspicious where you live and remember if you want to tell us about a vehicle then the most important information is the registration number. [email protected] 07554 775477 [email protected] 07392 314302 [email protected] 07554 775469 .